Class Notes, Mark 3:7-6:6a (4:35-5:34)

Mark 4:35-41 (NIV) 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

• We have all experienced storms in our life. For some the storm is literal, like Katrina, for others, it is a metaphor for family troubles, finances, satanic attacks, and poor decisions
• While we may enjoy an occasional weather storm, no one looks forward to living on the coast and the next hurricane, or living in tornado alley and wondering "when are those tornadoes coming?" We don't look forward to storms in life either, but they happen to everyone. Even the person who looks like he/she has everything together will experience storms
• Job had everything together. He was the richest man in the east. His three friends, who were convinced he had done something wrong to merit such storms, mentioned how people use to come to him all the time for advice. So Job was very smart -- very rich and very smart. When the storms (weather, raiders, etc) hit and destroyed his livestock, his fields, killed his children, and caused painful sores all over his body, Job's riches and wisdom couldn't stop it
• It is interesting that when God speaks to Job, it says "the Lord answered Job out of the storm (job 38:1)"
• We don't usually see good in a storm, but I think God speaks to us out of storms

• The disciples are experiencing a storm, why are the so frightened?
• It was a furious squall
• Water was coming and starting to swamp the boat

• And where is Jesus?
• He was resting in the stern
• Now God the Father does not sleep, but Jesus was fully God and perfectly man, and he did need sleep. But there is a metaphor here for our own struggles, sometimes it seems as if God does not answer, that He is asleep to our struggles, to our storm
• C.S. Lewis: "Meanwhile, where is God?" he asks. God is present, or seems to be, when all is well. "But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away."
• I'm not sure why God uses silence to our prayers, but it is a common thing. God speaks to us out of the silence as well

• It is perfectly alright to cry out to God, but the disciples make one mistake. Note what is said to Jesus:
• Teacher, don't you care if we drown
• Faith is not believing that God has power, that is a given. The demons believe in God and our terrified of his power, but they don't have faith. The disciples were terrified when they saw his power, but that wasn't faith
• Faith is believing that God cares for me
• Faith is believing he loves me tremendously
• Faith is believing that he is working for my good

• Heb 11:6 says "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (NIV)"
• Two things required for faith
• One, to believe he exists
• Two, to believe he cares and he will give good things
• Rom 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
• Both of these verses mention one other thing, Hebrew says "those who earnestly seek him" and Romans says "of those who love him"
• How can we say we love someone or earnestly seek that person when the only time we come to the person is when the storms of life are threatening?
• Real faith does not wait until we are at the end of the rope to call out to God. Now when we are in a storm, I believe it is God calling us to him, and so we do need to cry out
• APPLICATION: But the most important thing, is after the storm is over, do we go back to forgetting God or do we continue to seek him like we did in the storm?
• Until we seek him, as he desires, we will continue to experience the storms of life calling us back to him

Mark 5:1–17 (NIV) They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”

9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

• Any observations? Some of my observations:
• I'm not sure who started the storm. Not all storms are from God. See Job. But all storms are allowed by God, and God uses all storms for good in a believer's life. This storm may have been designed to prevent Jesus from coming to Gerasenes and healing a man possessed by many demons
• Not every work of God will help the local economy. Jesus healing of this man wiped out a big pork industry
• Of course, it was against the religious law to eat port (or grow it, I think). It could be the Jews were eating pork, or more likely, they were making money selling the pork to local Gentiles
• I remember a good Christian friend who worked for the government in Indian affairs. He would argue with me that Indian casinos were a good thing because they helped the Indian tribes. I wonder if Jesus would agree. Even if the Jews weren't eating the pork, he had no trouble shutting down the local operation

• There is definitely a link between mental illness and chemical imbalance. Although, we really don't know what causes certain chemical imbalances. I wonder how much of our mental illness and health failures are the result of demonic influence manifesting itself in physical change in our bodies. One can treat the symptoms, but ultimately the source of the problem may well be spiritual
• The bible says that sin is causing decay on our planet. Things are not the way they are supposed to be
• Rom 8:20-22 (NIV) For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

• A lot of the garbage in this world is the result of sin and the effects of sin over the generations. Troubles and storms remind us that this is not the way God intended the world to be
• Luke 13:1-5 (NIV) Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
• Jesus doesn't give any answers for the death of the innocent Galileans by Pilate or the accident death of eighteen when the tower in Siloam fell. He didn't blame the government. He didn't blame the engineers or the manufacturers. His lesson was real simple: We need to repent. All of us are going to die someday and our most important need is to repent of our sin and turn to God. That's what the storms of life remind the unbeliever. The storms of life remind the believer to turn back to God, and may teach some lessons, but the unbeliever is called to repent

[OPTIONAL]

Mark 5:21-34 (NIV) When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

• If we were Jesus, we might say we were on a mission. We have somewhere we need to get to. It is very important
• I'm sure Jairus felt that way. I'm sure he was not happy at the interruption. His need was urgent, but Jesus (God) seemed slow to respond
• Isn't that the way we feel. It is so hard to wait, much like the boat being tossed by the storm, why does God tarry?

• The woman is also someone that most can relate to. She has a medical ailment. She had seen many doctors and had only suffered worse. She had spent all of her money. She was out of solutions
• But she believed that if she could only touch Jesus, just the hem of his clothes, she would be healed
• She reached out and touched the Savior (this is her cry to God at the end of her rope)
• It is interesting that Jesus does not let her go in a quiet private healing. He forces her to come forth publicly (we want to keep our faith private, but God wants it to be public)
• He tells her that her faith healed her. She believed she could be healed. She believed that God loved her and knew what was best for her

• In the meantime, one person's answer is another person's rejection
• The time spent with the woman has resulted in the death of the young girl
• Jairus had faith to believe Jesus could heal when she was alive, I'm sure he was heart broken, and nothing is said of his response, although his friends were convinced that it was over
• Sometimes a vision has to die before it can be restored
• Someone once called that the death of a vision
• Why does God allow visions to die, or a person to go broke searching for healing for an answer?
• Maybe it is because we only go to him when we have tried all other sources, and He is our last hope
• We need to go to him first and every day, so that he does not become last.

• SUMMARY:
• I was reading a blog on the internet where a young man was commenting about happy he was to have given up being a Christian, that a great weight was off his shoulders, and he felt so good and so free
• I should have wrote him. I felt very sad for him. You see, he is both right and wrong
• I grew up in a very religious upbringing. I was a very strong Catholic, but being a Christian was getting old for me as well. I'm not sure how much longer I could have continued my façade
• The problem is that I didn't know what a Christian was, nor did I understand that most of Christian religion has nothing to do with what Jesus truly taught
• I thought I grew up a Christian, but I was wrong. I wasn't a Christian. I was a person who called himself a Christian and attended a church that called itself Christian, but that doesn't make someone a Christian
• I've heard the gospel many times. Jesus died for my sins, was buried, and rose again from the grave
• But I never asked Christ to come into my heart and be my savior. I never knew what a real relationship with God was
• When I did that 33 years ago next week, I experienced a total change in my life. I understood what a real relationship with God was about. It is not about "BEING" a Christian, it is about growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ which completely transforms your life
• What true real freedom and joy!
• What a great hope I now have. I am a child of God. I am a son of the kingdom. I have an inheritance guaranteed. I have a future
• My sins are gone. I don't need to "BE," I need to enjoy Him!
• Thank you LORD!